1. Field of the invention
The invention relates to a rear holder that prevents a connection terminal inserted into a connector housing (hereinafter referred to simply as "housing") from coming off the rear end of the housing, the connector housing being used for connecting an electrical wiring system of an automobile or the like. More particularly, the invention is directed to a rear holder structure adapted for the operation of releasing the rear holder during maintenance.
2. Related art
Various connectors used for the connection of wire harnesses in an electrical system of an automobile or the like are designed such that a rear holder is engaged with the rear end of the housing so as to prevent a wired connection terminal accommodated within the housing from coming off or being displaced due to externally applied impact and the like. That is, the rear holder is engaged with the rear end of the housing after the wired connection terminal has been accommodated in the housing, so that the connection terminal is doubly retained from the rear as well. A conventional example having such a doubly retained mechanism is shown in FIG. 10.
As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, a rectangular rear holder 51 has retaining projections 53 on the side surface, and is engaged with a housing 30 having retaining holes 31 on the rear end. A conventional procedure for releasing the rear holder 51 from the housing 30 using a rear holder releasing jig 20 during maintenance will hereunder be described.
The plurality of retaining projections 53 provided on the side surface of the rear holder 51 are retained by the plurality of retaining holes 31 provided on the rear end of the housing 30. As a result, the rear holder 51 is engaged with and held by the housing 30. That is, the rear holder 51 is engaged with the housing 30 without being projected from the rear end of the housing 30.
Further, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, in order to disengage the rear holder 51 from the housing 30, a rear holder releasing jig 20 is used to release the retaining projections 53 from the retaining holes 31 of the housing 30 one by one. That is, the rear holder releasing jig 20 is inserted into a clearance between the housing 30 and the rear holder 51 which are engaged with each other, and force is then applied in a direction D to remove the rear holder 51 from the housing 30.
FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing a state in which the retainment of the rear holder 51 has been released from the housing 30.
However, the aforementioned conventional releasing method suffers from the problem that the retaining projections 53 and the retaining holes 31 on the side of the housing 30 are damaged by the releasing jig since the operation of releasing the retainment is performed by locally applying force to the retaining projections made of a low-hardness resin using a sharp-edged releasing jig made of metal. In addition, when there is a large number of retainment projections much time is required for complete removal of the rear holder from the housing, which in turn has impaired impairs maintenance operability.